Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
ATL	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	4	8	0
STL	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	4	2

Sunday's series finale at Busch Stadium was a study in mismatched control. Danny Young (0-1, 4.50 ERA) got the ball for Atlanta and never found the strike zone, exiting after just 0.2 innings. St. Louis countered with Dustin May (5-6, 4.55 ERA), who came in trying to complete 5 innings for the first time since a complete-game shutout back on June 15 — and again came up short.

Show fees

FINAL

Spread

ML

Total

Braves(54-40)

LLWWL

4

+1.5-153+130o8.5+150

Cardinals(50-44)

WWLWL

3

-1.5+150-133u8.5-153

Best BetBraves +110

Postgame

Hit — Braves won outright 4-3 as Dubón's 9th-inning single overcame Young's rocky start.

Pregame

Backing the Braves outright even with Danny Young shaky out of the gate paid off once Atlanta's bullpen took over and the lineup found its late-game gear. Dustin May's career struggles against this exact opponent made the Cardinals a shakier favorite than the moneyline implied.

May's final line — 4 innings, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts, 2 earned runs — was more of the same up-and-down stuff that's defined his summer, and his career mark against Atlanta entering the day sat at 0-2 with an ERA north of 8. Atlanta, for its part, had to lean on its bullpen the second Young got hooked, and for most of the afternoon that group did exactly what it needed to.

Danny Young

(0-1)·2.45 ERA

07/12 Lineup

Dustin May

(5-7)·4.59 ERA

Jul 6 vs Brewers

ND

4.2IP

0ER

7K

0BB

81P

07/12 Lineup

Jordan Walker's leaping catch into the netting kept things tight early, and Alec Burleson's RBI double had the Cardinals up 1-0 before Dominic Smith came around to score on a wild pitch to even things. Drake Baldwin's RBI single in the 4th and a debut double off the bat of newly arrived Brewer Hicklen in the 6th gave Atlanta the cushion it needed.

That cushion nearly evaporated. José Fermín's 2-run single in the bottom of the 6th pulled St. Louis back even at 3-3, and for a few innings it looked like the Cardinals were going to finish off the sweep on manager mojo alone.

Atlanta Braves

(54-40)

Jul 11L@ Cardinals1-4

Jul 11L@ Cardinals1-2

Jul 9W@ Pirates10-5

Jul 8W@ Pirates3-0

Jul 7L@ Pirates4-12

St. Louis Cardinals

(50-44)

Jul 11Wvs Braves4-1

Jul 11Wvs Braves2-1

Jul 9Lvs Brewers4-8

Jul 8Wvs Brewers5-1

Jul 7Lvs Brewers2-10

Instead it was Mauricio Dubón who delivered, lining a go-ahead single in the 9th that held up and sent Atlanta home with a series split instead of a sweep. It's the kind of contribution the Braves have needed more of lately — they'd dropped 5 of their previous 7 games and arrived in St. Louis on a 2-game skid in this very series.

Atlanta Braves

(12)

• 10-Day-ILMike Yastrzemski (LF) — Atlanta placed Yastrzemski on the 10-day injured list Saturday with left elbow inflammation.07/11
• 10-Day-ILRonald Acuna Jr. (RF) — Manager Walt Weis said Tuesday that Acuna (hamstring) could begin a rehab assignment next week, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.07/07
• 10-Day-ILHa-Seong Kim (SS) — Atlanta placed Kim on the 10-day injured list Saturday, retroactive to Wednesday, due to right middle finger inflammation.07/04
• 15-Day-ILRobert Suarez (RP) — Suarez (elbow) hasn't been cleared to resume throwing and won't be ready to rejoin the Atlanta bullpen immediately after the All-Star break, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.07/10
• 15-Day-ILMartin Perez (SP) — Atlanta placed Perez on the 15-day injured list Monday due to a left forearm contusion.07/06
• suspensionJurickson Profar (LF) — Profar will miss the full 2026 season after the appeal of his 162-game PED suspension was denied Thursday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.05/08
• 60-Day-ILAJ Smith-Shawver (SP) — Smith-Shawver (elbow) will make his next rehab start Saturday with Triple-A Gwinnett, Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.07/10
• 60-Day-ILSpencer Schwellenbach (SP) — Schwellenbach (elbow) will likely report to Atlanta's spring training facility in early July and could be a candidate to rejoin the major-league rotation by late August or early September, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.06/29
• 60-Day-ILSpencer Strider (SP) — Atlanta transferred Strider (elbow) to the 60-day injured list Wednesday.06/17
• 60-Day-ILSean Murphy (C) — Murphy had the cast on his left hand removed Tuesday and is now wearing a splint to protect his fractured middle finger, Grant McAuley of the Marietta Daily Journal reprots.06/04
• 60-Day-ILJoe Jimenez (RP) — Atlanta manager Walt Weiss revealed Wednesday that Jimenez underwent another surgery on his left knee 3-to-4 weeks ago, Grant McAuley of the Marietta Daily Journal reports.05/13
• 60-Day-ILJoey Wentz (RP) — Atlanta placed Wentz (knee) on the 60-day injured list Tuesday.05/08

St. Louis Cardinals

(2)

• 60-Day-ILMax Rajcic (RP) — The Cardinals transferred Rajcic (elbow) to the 60-day injured list Tuesday.07/07
• 60-Day-ILRamon Urias (3B) — Urias (elbow) returned to St. Louis to undergo an examination on his left elbow, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.06/12

Atlanta's rotation is stretched thin enough that a game like this — a bullpen game out of necessity, journeyman relief innings, a rookie making an instant impact — is becoming the norm rather than the exception. With Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider, and multiple other regulars watching from the injured list, a win like Sunday's matters more than the final score line suggests.